


It isn't enough

by Nami



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Drama, Gen, Post Advent Children, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 15:47:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/599468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nami/pseuds/Nami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The ex-SOLDIER wasn’t expecting this when the blond showed up in his hideout this morning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It isn't enough

**Author's Note:**

> Beta: Anonymous  
> Disclaimer: Characters belong to Square Enix. 
> 
> I'm not sure if this fic contains "graphic depictions of violence", but better safe than sorry, right?

“How does it feel?… Stupid question, you were a SOLDIER. You know how dying feels.”

Cloud looks down at the bound man at his feet with a bored expression; his eyes are the only thing showing how much this situation pleases him. The ex-SOLDIER kneels next to his victim, brushing aside dirty red hair. Cobalt glowing eyes are observing him with a mix of hate and pain, and Strife lowers his face, whispering into the man’s ear: “You were such an amazing SOLDIER. People loved you and now… just look at yourself. You are nothing. You are only a shadow of the man you once were. Weren’t your parents right, Genesis?” Cloud knows about Rhapsodos’s parents from Reno; the Turk likes to talk a lot when he is drunk, and talking about the not-so-ideal lives of the Trinity is his hobby.

The mercenary grips Genesis’s hair and pulls him up, ignoring the man’s moan of pain; the redhead’s face is even more pale than usual. He tries to get his hands free, but it’s a futile attempt. He has lost too much blood already; the sand under their feet is wet because of the red liquid dropping from his sliced wrists. Cloud snarls into this once beautiful face, smiling cruelly. “You fucked up everything, didn’t you? Angeal, Zack and Sephiroth’s lives, you fucked them up and you weren’t even brave enough to stay with them till their end. No.” Strife’s grip tightens and he punches Genesis, enjoying the sound of breaking nose under his fist. “You left them. You left me and Zack in Hojo’s hands. Do you know what it means being nearly killed too many times to count it? Do you know how much that madman liked to torture us? Don’t forget about the bored guards. They had their methods to ‘entertain’ themselves, too.” 

Cloud throws Rhapsodos at the ground. Genesis hit it hard, landing on his face, but he doesn’t have the strength to move. If someone told him how cruel Cloud Strife could be, he wouldn’t have believed it. The ex-SOLDIER wasn’t expecting this when the blond showed up in his hideout this morning. Anything, but not this. After losing the duel with Gaia’s champion he woke up with his hands bound, already beaten so much that even breathing was too hard. Mako cured him a little, yet isn’t curing him fast enough; he is going to die.

“Thinking about how big of a failure you are? Good.” Cloud slides his foot under Genesis’s stomach and turns him onto his back with a kick. The redhead whimpers again, coughing blood and trying to breath at the same time. “Because you are. A fucking coward, who failed his friends. Tell me, Genesis,” says Strife, pulling the knife from his pocket and sitting next to the man. “How does it feel to be hated by everyone? Zack told me once that he wasn’t mad at Sephiroth any more, nor was Angeal. But,” he digs the knife into one of wounded wrists; Genesis spasms, more blood pouring onto already black sand, “they never said a word about you. Know why? Because they hate you. Everyone hates you. You fucker!” Cloud grips Rhapsodos’s throat, squeezing it painfully.

” — C’mon… Kill me already…” Genesis whispers, on the edge of death. He can taste its bitter taste on his lips and see the darkness in the corners of his eyes. Shouldn’t there be —

“There isn’t anyone, right? Everything you see is darkness. No one is coming to collect your soul. No one,” hisses Cloud, like he is reading the man’s mind. His hands are shaking and he is smiling like only a true sadist can. “Not even Angeal, right?”

“Stop... it…,” pleases Genesis, because he knows it is true, and he doesn’t want to die knowing that everything Cloud has said so far is true. He already knows it, deep in his heart - he has known it for years. 

It was obviously the wrong thing to say. Cloud roars in anger, stabbing Genesis right into his stomach. “Shut up! Do you think that Hojo stopped when I was begging him to? Do you think that ‘Stop it’ stopped Sephiroth from killing my mother? ShinRa’s army from killing Zack!? It’s all your fucking fault! Everything! I hate you!”

The knife is now sinking into Genesis’s body without pause; Cloud didn’t let go of his throat, observing with twisted pleasure how life is leaving those glowing orbits so similar to his own, almost tearing Rhapsodos’s chest open. “Even Sephiroth… Even he thought you were a failure… He came back to life and wasn’t looking for you, right? You are no hero. You are _no one_.” Cloud twisted the knife in the redhead’s chest, reaching his heart and finally ending this massacre. Genesis didn’t even have a chance to say anything. 

Slowly, still shaking and trying to stop himself from vomiting, Strife stands up. He is covered in blood, pieces of skin and flesh, yet it seems like he isn’t aware of it.

” — I hate you, you coward.”

He turns away and goes to the place where he left Fenrir, not knowing that after few moments gravity makes the tears in Genesis’s eyes fall.

**Author's Note:**

> It all started on Tumblr, when loveless-rhapsody reblogged “Tell me how would you kill my muse”. My Cloud responded with: “How I would kill you? I would bind you and slice your wrists open; while waiting for you to bleed to death, I would be whispering into your ear how everyone hate you, how your friends - Sephiroth and Angeal - hate you, how you failed them and how big failure you turned to be.". This fic I wrote few minutes later. I'm sorry Genesis.
> 
> EDIT  
> Filigranka (on ff.net) commented that it wasn't only Genesis' fault. Sure, it wasn't. I think that Genesis is one of the biggest victim in whole game. However, Cloud is burning with anger and hatred and he needed someone to blame – I just wanted to show that Cloud is a human too; a broken human, who can't copy well (not all the time) with everything what happened to him. And who else he had to kill? Hojo is dead and he doesn't remember other scientists well, but he remembers because of who (partly) Sephiroth went crazy in Nibelheim.


End file.
